


Patience

by YourLocalPriestess



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Set During ME3, some angsttttt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-08 01:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10374762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourLocalPriestess/pseuds/YourLocalPriestess
Summary: Jax Shepard has a controlled system of organization for his desk. Kaidan just calls it "messy."





	

**Author's Note:**

> My sister was in labor the other day so this was a resulting prompt during that 30 hour wait. Prompt came from the evil potionsmaster on here, and it was "And that's when the fight was on."

Shepard prided himself on his patience. He really did. He could talk a warlord krogan out of a rage. He could keep two insane biotics from blowing a hole in his ship. He could even find a way for two warring races to end their centuries old conflict in peace. Hell yeah he had patience.

But not enough for this.

He stood there, arms crossed over his chest and glaring at his desk. All the data pads were stacked neatly in rows. He was fairly sure that if he were to look through them, he would find them organized by importance, and then alphabetized. Ration bar wrappers now filled the bin where they had previously decorated the desk surface. The multitude of cold, half-drunk mugs of tea were missing entirely. Abducted, in all likeliness. He took a deep breath and huffed it out through his nose.

A moment later, the telltale swish of the door opening made his spine stiffen. How Kaidan managed to let his feet fall lightly as he walked in boots was beyond him, but as the man made his way to where he stood now, it only served to be one more thing to piss him off.

“Hey, Shepard.”

Kaidan’s smile fell when Shepard turned to him, still glaring. “Hey.”

The man’s brown eyes went infuriatingly soft. “What’s wrong?”

Shepard inhaled slowly, then jerked his head toward the newly organized work area. “I wasn’t aware that my desk was a shared space,” he bit out.

Kaidan flinched as if the words had landed across his face. “What?”

He uncrossed his arms and gestured at the desk vaguely. “ _This_. What gave you the right to do this?”

“I…” he almost stuttered, tripping over his words. “I just wanted to help, and I’m here enough to that I probably add to it anyway, so–”

“Bullshit,” Shepard cut him off. “You’re the neatest person on this damn ship, and the only one still following Alliance protocol.”

They shared a stony silence as Shepard waited. There weren’t very many times in his life that he had witnessed Kaidan squirm. He really was every bit the good soldier, constantly waring the careful mask of professionalism. But he squirmed now, letting his thoughts brew underneath the surface. Either the fight was on, or he’d concede.

“Jax…”

So the fight was on.

“Don’t.”

He marched down the stairs. Kaidan trailed right after him, grabbing his arm. Shepard jerked it out of his grasp and glared at him.

He pursed his lips and pulled his wounded hand back to his chest. “Things were slipping through the cracks, Jax.”

Shepard felt his face get hot, but the man didn’t stop there.

“I went back to read over some reports–”

“You were checking up on my work?” Shepard shouted.

“No!” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I went back to read through another mission, checking on a detail I couldn’t quite remember, because your reports are always thorough. But the report wasn’t there.”

Shepard opened and closed his mouth a few times before setting them in a hard line. “If you hadn’t noticed, we are in the middle a war here, so if it happened the other day I’ll have to ask–”

“It’s from three months ago, love.”

The anger that had flared inside him so quickly dissipated much the same. His muscles relaxed of their own volition, and it was only then that he noticed how tired he felt. He let himself sit on the couch. Kaidan settled himself next to him.

“I’m sorry.” Shepard rubbed one hand over his face and grabbed one of Kaidan’s with the other. He shot the man an apologetic look. “You don’t deserve that.”

Kaidan offered him his favorite smirk and leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead. “It’s okay to ask for help sometimes.”

Shepard pulled him close and wrapped his arms around him. “Yeah.” He kissed his chest, quick and chaste, before resting his head against it. “Thank you. For being patient with me.”

Kaidan pressed a kiss to the top of his head. He could feel the smile in it. “Anytime.”

**Author's Note:**

> Gah! My first mShenko piece! I'm very excited and nervous about this. AFDdskfndkjvbdk. Thank you for reading. Any feedback is appreciated. <3


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